Roquefort and spinach cannelloni recipe

This baked pasta dish makes a tasty change from the usual lasagne. You can buy tubes of dried cannelloni in most large supermarkets or Italian delis. It can be a little fiddly to fill the tubes – you’ll need to use a teaspoon, preferably one with a long handle. For a less fiddly method use sheets of fresh lasagne, spoon the filling down one short end then loosely roll up to enclose the filling. Roquefort cheese is a pungent French blue cheese but for a milder flavour you can use creamy soft ricotta cheese or try a mix of both.

Ingredients

• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 200g baby spinach leaves, washed and chopped
• 150g Roquefort cheese, crumbled
• 40g walnut pieces
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 16 dried cannelloni tubes
• 375g tub fresh cheese sauce
• Tomatoes and rocket leaves, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Fan 170°C/Gas Mark 5. Grease a large shallow ovenproof dish.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic for 5-6 mins until softened. Add the spinach leaves and a splash of water and cover and cook gently until the spinach has wilted. Stir in the cheese and walnuts and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Using a teaspoon fill each cannelloni tube with some of the spinach mixture and place in a single layer in the greased dish. Pour over the cheese sauce.
4. Cover the dish with greased foil and bake for 30 mins. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10-15 mins until the top is golden and bubbling and the cannelloni is tender. Serve immediately with tomatoes and rocket.